The Covington City Council on Tuesday evening changed course, momentarily halting a move to get a tax rededication proposition on the Oct. 2 ballot.

City Council members, the mayor and city staff had discussed asking voters to change the distribution of the city's dedicated 1-cent sales tax, so that more of the money could be used for operating expenses.

Currently, 60 percent of that tax is dedicated to capital improvements, 15 percent is for recreation, 10 percent for the city's downtown area, 10 percent for streets and drainage, and 5 percent for police. In 2001, Covington voters extended that dedicated tax through 2027.

But since that meeting, the city has discovered it might be able to free up about $1.7 million from St. Tammany Parish sales taxes rebated to the city through a growth management and revenue-sharing agreement.

Covington administration officials had always believed that money was restricted to capital improvements.

Covington City Councilman Lee Alexius

According to Councilman Lee Alexius, however, the city recently learned it might be possible to use the growth management money for road, street and bridge repair and maintenance. Mayor Candace Watkins and other city officials were not present at Tuesday's meeting.

Maintenance and repairs for streets and bridges, along with drainage issues that are tied to them, are currently paid for out of the city's general fund. If the growth management dollars could be used to pay those costs instead, the general fund allotment to maintenance and repairs could be reallocated to operating expenditures including municipal staff salaries or retirement benefits.

Alexius said the city is still awaiting more information to confirm the flexibility of the growth management funds.

To get on the Oct. 2 ballot, the council would have to approve a resolution by June 15 so that the State Bond Commission could discuss it at its July 15 meeting. The state secretary of state's office must receive propositions by July 23.

In other business Tuesday, the City Council introduced an ordinance amendment to renew its commitment to accept cash for "any debt owed to the city," specifically utility bills.

Residents, mainly property owners of the 2nd District -- commonly referred to as the West 30s, a generally impoverished area of the city -- were angered that, despite a city ordinance on the books since 2008, the city was not accepting cash payments. Many West 30s residents complained that they did not have checking accounts and that money orders are costly.

Watkins and others in the administration had said they originally stopped accepting cash largely because of worries about possible robberies -- the city was robbed in 2007 -- fears about in-house fraud or negligence, and the added time and staff that creating a secure cash-payment system might require. The mayor, though, has said she is fine with once again accepting cash, although she hopes residents will bring exact change, though many have questioned that requirement as too restrictive.

The amendment to the ordinance is not expected to be officially voted on until the City Council's scheduled June 15 meeting.